


VII. Exhausted - Captain and Crew

by 56leon



Series: 2018 Inktober Prompts / Fictober Fills [7]
Category: Octopath Traveler (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort No Hurt, Gen, I just love Captain Leon Bastralle ok guys, Introspection, and he deserves AT LEAST one fic this inktober so this is the first of hopefully many, i would die for him, idk how to describe this fic, spoilers for Tressa's CH3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 01:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16231220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/56leon/pseuds/56leon
Summary: Inktober/Fictober Day 7. Exhausted.Leon Bastralle seems to be overworking himself, and while he says it's fine, his men think otherwise. Or, a look into the relationship between captain and crew.





	VII. Exhausted - Captain and Crew

**Author's Note:**

> my name is Kiril Clockworker and I love Captain Leon Bastralle with all my heart and as soon as I realized I hadn't written anything with him in it yet I was horrified at myself and needed to fix that immediately, so here we are.
> 
> If there's ANY fic of mine I would beg all of my subs to read from Inktober (so far), it would be this fic please understand why I love Leon Bastralle with every miserable bone in my body????

## A true champion is one who sweats from exhaustion when no one is watching.

##                                 -Bas Rutten

* * *

“Cap’n, yer gonna wear yerself to death. Get some rest!”

“Och, I’m fine, don’t worry.” Despite their good intention, Leon waves his men off and continues to chart out their course. There’s a desk on the deck specifically for days like these, where the winds decide not to cooperate and the stars aren’t quite aligning how Leon would prefer. “Ol’ Baltazar couldn't kill me if he had wanted to, a few more hours awake won't be able to.”

“Aye, but it’ll sure as hell sail ye closer than gettin’ some much-needed sleep,” comes the argument from the oldest member of the crew. Most of them had followed Leon from his pirating days to his more docile merchantry trade, but none of them have been quite as loyal as Pete, the ornery old coot who’s currently giving Leon a stink-eye that his own da would’ve shrunk away from. As far as first mates go, he’s the strictest, but also perhaps the one that Leon needs the most. “Mikk, Makk,” he snaps at two of their newest recruits, and they jump to attention once they’re barked at. “Relay today’s events to our dear captain here, he seems t’ have _forgotten_ everythin’.”

Mikk and Makk look at each other before they start scrambling for words, Mikk taking the lead with Makk not too long after. “Well, at dawn ye woke up ta check the sails were in good condition.”

“Oh, an’ that was before we took off from Grandport, so ye had to help us haul all our vittles onboard after.”

“There was that transamacallit-”

“ _Transaction_ , ya idjit.”

“-right, whatever, that thing wit’ tha guy from Ravus Manor. Took a few hours, an’ boy did you look tired, Cap’n!”

“Och, an’ after that, that fop from Atlasdam came ‘round! Talked yer ear off, he did, never thought we’d get rid a’ him.”

“Only did ‘cause a’ the thing wit’ Josey an’ the shark, wot!”

“Enough!” Mikk and Makk immediately fall silent, and Pete sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, sounding even more tired than Leon looks. He wonders why he asked them to begin with. "The point _is,_ cap’n, that ye’ve been through more today than ye think, and we can’t be led by a buffoon who can’t even take care a’ himself.”

While other, lesser captains would probably have thrown Pete overboard by now, considering how many years he’s been guided by the caring yet cranky man, Leon only laughs. “Aye, but you’re not being led by a _buffoon who can’t even take care of himself,_ are you, Pete? You’re being led by me.” He ignores Pete’s sassy glare as he continues. “Really, I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be fine. Just chartin’ a few stars, is all. It’s no more harmful than reading a book.”

“My uncle got bit by a rattlesnake while readin’ a book,” comes a high-pitched voice, followed by soft laughter from the rest of the crew as their attention turns to its owner. Yonah is barely fifteen, but he has a comedic sense to rival any other member of the crew, and his grin lightens the atmosphere at least a bit. “I think sir’s right, cap’n. If ye don’t sleep, ye might walk right overboard, and who’s gonna save ye if we’re all asleep?”

Leon actually _scoffs_ at that one, but his voice is still fond. It can’t _not_ be, when Yonah is involved. “I can save myself quite well, lad. And for the rest of ya......” His words turn sharp, and while it all might be for show, his crew is ready to respond nonetheless. “Get to your quarters. Lights out. I don’t wanna hear _another_ peep from any of ya until role call tomorrow mornin’. Ya hear?”

“Aye aye, cap’n!” The reply is unanimous, and the men scramble like headless chickens to race down into the crew cabin first. Yonah pauses and glances back at Leon before disappearing into the innards of the ship, while Pete doesn’t budge at all until Leon gives him another look.

“Pete-”

“Nay, don’t say it, cap’n. I’m just about ta leave.” He sighs. “Jus’......watch out fer yerself. Bal wouldn’t’ve appreciated it if he knew ye were gonna risk yer own life jus’ ta fulfil _his_ dream.” Without another word, he turns around and heads down the same stairs that the rest of the crew had used moment prior.

“Aye,” Leon murmurs softly, staring at Pete’s retreating figure before he returns his attention to the map in front of him. “I know, Petey. I know.”

* * *

 

It’s half three in the morning when any movement breaks the stillness of the night on the deck. Yonah yawns and comes out for his nightly sleep in the crow’s nest, but stops when he notices a figure slumped over the desk right behind the wheel. Even without the blue coat and blond hair sticking out like a brightly colored canvas in the night air, he would be able to tell who it is by his snores alone. It’s almost funny, to anybody who hasn’t sailed with Leon before, how such a _cultured_ and _upstanding_ merchant can still make more noise than a whole pod of whales. “Cap’n,” he whispers loudly, padding across the deck to shake him awake. “Cap’n, wake up! Ya need t’-”

“Leave ‘im be, boy,” another voice startles Yonah, and he turns to see Pete, sitting against the mizzen mast with one leg extended and one knee drawn up to support his arm. He’s not supposed to be out here right now, not after the captain’s orders- but to be fair, neither is Yonah, and so an unspoken agreement passes between them. There’s a half-drunk bottle of rum next to him, and his eyes move between Yonah and Leon as he speaks. “The ol’ cap’n here passed out not too long ago. Actual idjit fer not usin’ a bed, I’d say, but he does need the sleep. Jus’ let ‘im rest, y’hear?”

Yonah looks at Leon’s sleeping figure one more time before nodding. “Aye aye, sir.” He walks over to the ladder leading up to the crow’s nest, but hesitates a moment before looking back at Pete. “If ye don’t mind me askin’.....why does he work so hard, anyways?”

Pete doesn’t know how to reply. Yonah isn’t the newest member of the ship, but he’s the youngest, and there’s still a naivety to him that the other, sea-salted ex-pirates want to keep instilled in him. Not to mention, the story isn’t his to tell; it’s a story of Leon and Baltazar, and a cherished memory that keeps Leon working ever harder towards a dream that wasn’t his to begin with. Yes, Pete knows it well, has committed it to his heart so he can remember it even after his mind has gone dumb, but to somebody like Yonah, who hasn’t experienced loss like the other members of the crew have.......he’s at a loss.

“I’d say you’d understand one day,” he finally says, sighing as he watches Leon sleep peacefully. “But I really hope ya never do, lad. Now shoo. Go on, get.” He tries to break the somber tone that he’s accidentally set by flapping his hand at Yonah, gesturing him to stop dawdling and go wherever he had intended to go.

Fortunately, Yonah takes the hint and scrambles up the rope ladder, not stopping until his feet touch the smooth wood of the crow’s nest. He looks down at the captain and his begrudging guardian angel, and then back up at the sky. Whatever Leon’s motivations may be, and whatever intentions he may have, Yonah knows without a doubt that he’s putting his heart and soul into not only the ship and the business, but the crew as well. Helping them with so much, putting so much on his own shoulders and overlooking his own burden so long as his men aren’t burdened the same.....well, there’s a reason they’ve stayed with him for so long, and it isn’t out of fear like the landlubbers like to believe.

Content, Yonah slides his eyes shut and begins to drift away once more, knowing that as much as Leon takes care of them, they will do the same. After all, he pushes himself, but they’re there to pull him back. He struggles, but they ease his burden as best as they can.

(And if Leon wakes up the next morning with a blanket around his shoulders and a mug of tea on his desk? Well, Yonah didn’t see nothin’.)


End file.
